As a Triathlon coach I don't coach teams other than I suppose when in the swimming pool you could say (but also kids and adults train together..). I do have a view on this though: When you warn / berate everyone in the team about bullying or just generally messing about when they should be listening - and then one of those athletes / team members persists, you have to do something. Doing a few laps I would say is the minimum(!). You don't need training or a course to understand that. I'd say that coach is better off out of it. Find a team that values his coaching and common sense.

Wow corporal punishment. I have never in my years of coaching ever done this as I feel there's other ways of controlling these situations. I have however I have seen many teacher during pe lesson do this due to children not listening. I personally would talk to parents from both parties and explain the situation.

Lets change the age to adults, players having a fight due to a team member missing a goal, one team player takes it up on themselves to go further and start bullying the guy who didn't score would you make the adult run around the field a few time's because he's being a bully? I'm sure the adult would give you a few choice words. What is the difference between an adult bullying to a child bullying? You have a better chance of changing the mindset of a child but making run a few laps is punishment aren't you as the coach now a bully for punishing the child!

What constitutes bullying? The competitive nature of sport makes it an ideal environment for the bully to operate. A lot of coaches assume they need to be on the look-out for peer on peer bullying without perhaps considering that they too need to be careful they don't overstep the mark. I delve deeper into the subject in this blog...